DEI at work again?
“during a refuel operation”
It’s not exactly unheard of my friend.
A refueling operation requires supply vessel to be in close proximity to the vessel being resupplied.
As a former big deck sailor, this is very common among ships of different sizes. UNREP (Underway Replenishment) isn’t a exact science and I as a simple E-4 had to order the George Washington and Arctic to conduct an emergency breakaway as I saw both ships drawing during a aviation refueling op off Florida.
I was got screamed at by a dozen or more officers and senior enlisted, who wanted to run me up the flag pole. The old Man with 2 stars put a end to that with a few colorful adjectives and Bravo Zulu to me for quick thinking.
In South Atlantic, you tend to have allot of cross currents and then there is the vortexes that both ships create on their own.
It’s hard work to keep on station. Not everything is the fault of DEI.
In cases like this, I reserve judgement. It happens, no matter how good you are. Sea conditions, wind conditions, current, etc. I happened to be on a carrier that collided with a destroyer during refueling it, one guy on the destroyer was severely injured, and the destroyer ended up being scrapped instead of repaired.
It just happens. I don’t recall our Captain or the other ships Captain was reprimanded or punished.
Now if two ships collide during maneuvering, yeah. Someone is going to get punished, and I do consider DEI.